Author: roadtripqueen

Road trip expert here to help you plan epic adventures across the US!

A Day in Harpers Ferry, WV

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Hey y’all! I hope all is well with you and your loved ones during this crazy quarantine situation we’re in. I am getting restless and my family is beyond ready to get back out there and hit the road for our next adventure! I planned to share our Virginia road trip with you all shortly after we returned home, but I’ve been busy with teaching remotely, homeschooling my boys, and I’ve honestly just been sad and at a loss for words. It seems like it was forever ago that my travel bestie and I were planning our spring break road trip. I can’t believe that it was just last month that we were driving across the country on our longest road trip to date. Little did we know that the world would basically shut down as soon as we returned home. While I’m really sad this is happening, I am trying to soak up this time with my family and today Jake and I were talking about our favorite trips and our best travel memories. I thought, now is the perfect time to look back on this trip and share all the memories we made! As always, I hope this blog helps your family plan your next big adventure!

Road Trip Crew

So, we were REALLY lucky that we were even able to take this road trip. We loaded up and left the day spring break started in early March. Carrie was able to use her father-in-law’s time share and we decided that we wanted to take the kids to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. We probably planned to visit too many places for one week, but we weren’t sure when we’d get back to the area and wanted to hit several states on this road trip. We decided to start our trip in Harpers Ferry, WV. Honestly, I don’t know if I was busy with school or what, but this is probably one trip that I knew the least about before leaving. Usually I spend several hours researching our destination and have a list of things I want to do and see. I feel like we did a lot of planning on the way, but what else did we have to do on a 20 hour drive? We didn’t know a lot about West Virginia, but it was a state that our kids had not been to yet, so we decided Harpers Ferry is where this trip would start. When I told my boys that it is one of the most haunted places in the US, they were all about it… until it got dark haha! The drive was really nice, we stopped after 6 hours and stayed the night in Memphis, TN. The next day was our longest drive of the trip, a total of 14 hours but we were finally on the East Coast! We actually stayed about 12 miles from Harpers Ferry in a town in Maryland (we got to mark another state off our list).

View from Jefferson Rock

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with Harpers Ferry. Like I mentioned, I didn’t really know much about this town until the drive and I am sure there is a lot that I can still learn about it. It is such a cute, quaint town. When we first arrived we weren’t really sure where to park and start the day. We drove through the town first and my excitement level sky-rocketed! I can be really nerdy when it comes to history and the town just looked so old. Then I saw a sign about Lewis & Clark and just knew it was going to be fantastic day! So, the parking in the town is very limited but signs guided us to large parking area about 1.5 miles from the town to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. We had to pay to park, but there are facilities in that lot and a bus that picks up and drops off visitors. We decided to walk down to the town on the trails and that was an adventure in itself! The scenery was beautiful. Harpers Ferry sits right near the water and we really enjoyed the scenic walk to town. We saw waterfalls and climbed rocks and even stopped by old, creepy ruins on the walk into the town. Luckily it was all downhill and we grabbed the bus back to the parking lot when the day was over!

My boys on the hike down to Harpers Ferry
The kids loved the walk!

Our kids LOVE old ruins!

The town itself was like something out of the 1800s. Not a lot has changed and I think that is how the locals want it. I can’t keep saying this enough… I wish I would’ve paid attention in my history classes when I was younger. I still can’t believe that I walked in places that Lewis & Clark have been, where Thomas Jefferson has been, and where a Civil War battle took place. The buildings still have that old feel and the windows are adorned with relics from the 1800s. The candy shop still makes and sells candy from different time periods and we loved the first candy canes from the 1600s. It was also pretty creepy when most of my photos had auras and the kids were freaked out – I loved it hah! And, Thomas Jefferson is still Jett’s favorite president and we hiked up to Jefferson Rock and got to see where he stood on October 25, 1783! The views were impressive and we all thought this was the perfect day trip!

I loved the old light posts through the town!

There’s still a train that runs through the town!

Look at these old candy canes!

The kids would NOT let us book a ghost tour!!

I loved this house!

This was just our first stop on this road trip! Stay tuned to see our time spent in Washington DC, our White House visit, and our day trips to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.

Stay healthy out there!!

Granby, Colorado – Colorado’s Hidden Winter Gem!

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Hey y’all! We switched up our Colorado winter destination this year and I can’t wait to tell you all about the little hidden gem we found called Granby! We usually road trip to Crested Butte every winter break, but we wanted a change this year. The boys were not real thrilled with us, but ended up loving Granby!

We stayed at Base One Camp in Granby, Colorado, which is ski in/out. We had a spacious condo that we booked through vrbo.com. I particularly loved that we had an enclosed garage to park in, especially since it snowed most of the days there. Base One Camp is conveniently located right at the base of the mountain and just a few steps to the ski lift and next door to ski and snowboard rentals and ski school. There’s also a cafeteria with different food options and a restaurant that we really enjoyed.

Image result for base one camp granby winter
picture from vrbo website

The drive to Granby took us about 13 hours. We stopped and stayed the night Trinidad, CO and only had about a 4 hour drive to Granby from there. Along the way, we made a quick detour to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It’s one of my kids’ favorite places, they love climbing on the rocks. Be sure to check it out if you’re in the area!

Finally we made it to Granby and were ready to start our winter adventure! There was so much snow and the views were incredible. We were all excited and ready for snowboarding the next day! The mountain was small enough that we let the big boys ride the lifts to the bunny slopes by themselves while we taught Jake and Sadie how to ski. The big boys were able to go up to the top of the mountain with adults and there wasn’t a trail they couldn’t go down! It quickly became their favorite mountain, but I figure this will be the case no matter where we go! The crowds still got pretty big, but we knew it would happen since we were going over a holiday. The only thing I missed about Crested Butte was the downtown area. Granby is small, so there’s not a ton to do besides skiing and boarding. If you want a really nice family vacation and time to ski and board, then I highly suggest Granby! If you are looking for more nightlife, then I would head to a bigger mountain like Crested Butte or Winter Park!

Skiing and Snowboarding – We are snowboarders in my family, except for Jake. Since he’s just starting ski school, him and Sadie skied on the trip. We actually put them in ski school for the day. Honestly, I think they both learned more on the bunny slopes with us and a harness, but ski school was a great babysitter for the day and allowed the adults to go up to the top to ski and board with the big boys! I even got the chance to board with my hubby alone for the first time in about 5 years!

We also decided to road trip across Colorado up to Monarch Mountain to go dog sledding with Monarch Dog Sled Rides. My littlest son is obsessed with wolves & huskies, so we knew he’d love this animal adventure! We really got lucky with the weather and driving conditions and had no issues traveling the three hours or so from Granby to Monarch Mountain! And I think it’s safe to say that we ALL loved dog sledding. We started with an introduction and background story about every dog on the tour. Then we learned about the history of dog sledding and the kids were so engaged. From there we learned how to harness a dog and anyone has the opportunity to try it out themselves. Then it was time to start the ride! I have never seen dogs so excited to work! You can totally tell that these dogs are treated very well and are truly born to pull sleds! The kids and I bundled up together in the sled and Jereme got to stand at the back with our guide and drive the sled. The sights were incredible, the guides were so knowledgeable and we enjoyed chatting with them during our tour. The few stops we made were fun, we especially loved getting to play with the dogs and watch them roll around in the snow to cool down. I would highly, highly, highly recommend this company and this adventure for anyone wanting to add some fun to their ski or snowboarding trip to Colorado!

Thanks so much for reading about our winter adventures. As always, I am happy to help with any questions you may have from what to pack, to where to go, and what to do!

Happy Travels, Jasha

Washington DC with Kids Travel Guide

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Hey y’all! I can’t wait to share our DC highlights with you. So, my boys became obsessed with all things Presidents last school year. We’ve had so much fun visiting different Presidential sites and monuments, like the Lincoln Homestead and Mount Rushmore. We knew we HAD to take the boys to DC to get the full experience and continue on with our love of learning about our country’s history. We went back and forth trying to figure out a time to take off and head to our country’s capital and finally settled on Thanksgiving break. That way we’d have enough time to do all the things on our list of must-do’s. And even with a week, we still didn’t have enough time to see and do it all! My biggest worry was the weather, but it turned out to be beautiful while we were there. I am not sure if we got lucky or if it’s typically that mild at the end of November, but regardless I am so thankful. The best part about traveling to DC during Thanksgiving break, is that everyone that is in the city for business leaves for the holiday! We didn’t have to wait for tables at restaurants or stand in long lines. And, of course, most of the historical sites around DC are free so you can’t beat that! We did sooo much, so I am only going to list our top favorites.

First, we stayed at the wonderful Washington Circle Hotel. Not only did the area have a big George Washington statue in the middle of the circle, this hotel used to be an apartment building so we had really roomy accommodations. Our flight left at 6:57 am and we arrived to our hotel by 10 am. I was worried that our room wouldn’t be ready, since check-in isn’t until 4 pm, but it was! The room had a bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room, and balcony. This made our stay very comfortable and it was nice having a kitchen for the kids, even though we only cooked one meal that week! I cannot fail to mention that the hotel is at such a great location, we could actually see the side of the Lincoln Memorial from our balcony. So, it was only about a 20 minute walk with our littles, but a straight shot to the Lincoln Memorial and National Mall on one street. The other street was a straight shot to the White House! The hotel had an excellent restaurant, called Circle Bistro, and we ate breakfast there each morning. There were also plenty of places for us to grab food scattered around the hotel and there were also several grocery stores in the area, too. Saturday night it got a bit noisy, but the rest of the week was very quiet for the city!

President Trump Sightings – My biggest highlight of the trip was spotting our President two different times. I know that not everyone supports Trump, but seeing the President, regardless of who he is, is a really big deal! We were hanging out at the National Mall, the boys were tossing the football around, and I started noticing a heavy police and sniper presence in the area. I immediately got nervous, then about a hundred sirens sounded and we watched the President’s motorcade leave the White House! It. Was. Awesome! Then, later on we were walking back to our hotel and wanted to walk past the White House, when we again noticed snipers on buildings and the block around the WH was closed. We had binoculars, so we stood around and watched with a crowd as the President pardoned a turkey for Thanksgiving and then left on Air Force One. It was an unforgettable experience!

Here are all the other things we packed into our week in DC!

Monuments/Memorials – Be sure to check out the memorials and monuments both during the day and at night. The boys favorites are the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and Jefferson Memorial. You can even do bike tours and kids can ride along, too! Be sure to check out FDR’s & MLK’s memorials, they are some of my favorites!

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument – You can now go inside of the Washington Monument and tickets are free! But, you have to get in line early to get them and they’re only available for that day. Jett wanted to go inside and up to the top so bad, so him and I woke up at 6:30 am and were in line by 7:30 am. The ticket window opens at 8:30 am. There were probably about 50 people ahead of us and a hundred behind us, but we were able to get tickets for that afternoon. Everyone in my family says it was worth it! The views from the top are excellent and the ride down the elevator has some surprises!

The White House – Unfortunately the White House is closed during the week of Thanksgiving for holiday decorating. We did apply for the self-guided tour through our state representative, but they reached out to me a few months in advance to let me know that there wouldn’t be any tours during the week we were there. We were totally bummed, but hope to visit one day in the future. The boys still enjoyed seeing it from the streets, though! It’s hard to believe how small it is in real life!

Smithsonian Museums – We only had enough time to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of American History. My boys loved everything in the science museum, but only wanted to see a few specific items in the history museum, like the first American flag (which cannot be photographed) and the hat Abe Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated (there’s still blood on it). I have been to the Air and Space Museum and it’s really great! We just didn’t have the time to squeeze it in on this trip.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon – We Ubered out to George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. We ended up spending the entire day at this estate. We toured the home, walked the grounds, saw George Washington and Martha’s tombs, hiked in the gorgeous forests around the property, visited the museum on site, and viewed the slave cabins. It was a very memorable experience! It was decorated for Christmas, so that was an added bonus! The house is stunning and we loved seeing the inside, it was so colorful and fancy. The view on the back porch was truly breathtaking and I just kept thinking to myself, and out loud, “George Washington sat out here and looked at this same view!” And guess what?! We even got to see the actual teeth he wore in the museum! I highly recommend touring this historical site if you’re in the DC area, it’s only about a 20 minute scenic drive from the city.

Ford’s Theatre & Petersen House – Ford’s Theater was on our must-do list, especially after visiting Lincoln’s Homestead over the summer. This is the only tour that I bought tickets for prior to the trip. If you check out the website, you’ll be able to choose your tickets and the suggested time to get in line for the tour. When you get inside the theatre, you’re taken downstairs to a mini museum full of information. Most of this was not interesting to the boys, but there’s a part of the museum that has the actual gun that was used and a replica of the bullet. You’re given some time to walk around the museum on your own and then your taken upstairs to the theatre. We really weren’t sure what to do after we viewed the seats that the Lincoln’s were in when the assassination took place. But we noticed others were sitting in the theatre seats, so we copied them and eventually a park ranger came onto the stage and retold the story of Lincoln’s day leading up to the assassination and John Wilkes Booth’s background and his day leading up to the assassination. We were enthralled with this talk. I just felt like I learned so much information that I didn’t know beforehand. And even our 5-year-old was engaged the whole time! Make sure to grab tickets that include a tour of the Petersen House across the street. This house is where Lincoln was taken after the shooting and where he sadly passed away the next morning. The theatre is also still showing plays and you can buy tickets to see Charles Dickson’s A Christmas Carol during this week! We had an amazing brunch next door to the Petersen House! Stop for lunch or breakfast at Lincoln’s Waffle Shop when your tour is over. You’ll thank me later!

National Archives Building – Our oldest son’s favorite president is Thomas Jefferson, so he has spent a lot of time researching him and his contributions. He was so interested in the fact that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, so of course we had to see this document in real life. If you want to see America’s Founding Documents, visit the National Archives. These documents are located in the Rotunda and there are signs to lead you there all throughout the building. It’s a really neat place! There was NOT a line here, which was amazing. However, you won’t be able to take any photos and there are guards everywhere monitoring.

Outdoor Ice Skating – We happened to stumble upon an outdoor ice skating rink after we visited the National Archives Building. It was a fun stop for Jett, Jake however hated it after he fell one time! The Ice Rink is located in the National Gallery of Art, Sculpture Garden.

Our two favorite places to eat were the Old Ebbitt Grill, located close to the White House and Founding Farmers. I didn’t take any food pics, but we all loved the items we got at both places. The boys really liked the hot chocolate at Old Ebbitt Grill and my steak was to die for!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our DC adventures! We walked about 35 miles total during our week there, and the boys were troopers and kept up with us the whole time! DC is such a beautiful city full of history, and I hope you get the chance to visit! As always, if you have any questions or need any ideas, please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help you with your planning!

Cancun Family Vacation Travel Guide

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Occasionally the Road Trip Queens take to the sky, especially when the Caribbean is calling! My family decided to end the summer in Cancun, Mexico and man, it felt like THE trip of a lifetime. From releasing baby sea turtles, to swimming with dolphins, traveling to Chichen-Itza, and exploring a cenote, we had the adventure of all adventures this summer! Keep reading for our complete Cancun family vacation travel guide!

We’ve been to several different destinations in Mexico and have traveled to/from the Cancun airport, but we had never stayed in Cancun for vacation. Let me tell you, if you haven’t been GO! I can’t really even accurately describe the water, it’s other-worldly. The people were kind, the scenery was beautiful, and we always felt safe at our resort and on our excursions.

We stayed at Reflect Cancun Resort & Spa and it did not disappoint. The food was good, the drinks were better! We loved the different ceviche options at the pool.

On our first night, we stumbled upon a group that was releasing hundreds of baby sea turtles. We were invited to help in the release and to date, it’s one of the most memorable experiences I have ever been so fortunate to be a part of. Of course, I left my camera in the room so sadly I don’t have any photos of this awesome animal encounter. This was my favorite part of our trip!

On our second day in Cancun, we decided to just hang out at the resort. We played on the beach, swam in the ocean, explored the property, and relaxed by the pool. We never ran out of food options and had the breakfast buffet, lunch and snacks by the pool, and enjoyed the dinner buffet. We also booked our excursions on this day right at our hotel. We knew we wanted to visit ancient ruins, and Chichen-Itza was highly recommended by the hotel staff. They offered a package that included a bus ride, a light breakfast, lunch, a guided tour of Chichen-Itza, and a fun stop to swim in a cenote. We also booked an hour of swimming with dolphins at the hotel next door. It was so nice and easy to be able to talk to hotel staff and pick the best excursions for our time and budget.

Day Trip Chichen-Itza

Chichen-Itza is one of the new seven wonders of the world and a must-see if you’re in Mexico. My boys are very interested in ancient ruins, so we knew Mexico would be a great place to check out Mayan Ruins. Chichen-Itza is about a 2 hour drive from Cancun. We booked this excursion at our hotel and it included roundtrip transportation on a huge air-conditioned bus (with a bathroom) and fun entertainment with our tour guides. We also had a light breakfast, a delicious Mexican lunch buffet, and swimming in a cenote included in this excursion package. The tour starts very early in the morning, we were picked up directly at our hotel and didn’t return until 7-8 pm. The tour guides had a short presentation on the Mayan culture, Mayan artifacts were passed around, and we learned a little about the ruins – one of the guides was also Mayan! The guides escorted us around Chichen-Itza and explained all of the different sights and ruins and what they were thought to be so long ago. Then we had a chance to explore on our own. The only downside of this adventure was the heat! It was extremely sunny and hot at the end of July! Be sure to take sunscreen & water and wear a hat & sunglasses.

We ended the trip with a quick stop to explore a cenote! The water was freezing, so it was very refreshing after being out in the heat at the ruins. There were bathrooms and a changing room with lockers, so we were able to quickly get changed, grab life jackets, and then head down to the cenote, which is basically an underground sinkhole with water. The cenote we explore is called Cenote Ik Kil. Jake and I swam, but Jereme and Jett were able to jump off a ledge inside the cenote. This is one of Jett’s favorite highlights of the trip!

Swimming with Dolphins

As you might know, my family is full of animal lovers! So any time we can experience an animal encounter, we do it! We were able to book a Swimming with Dolphins adventure and it was held at the hotel next door to ours. I really liked this tour because we got a behind the scenes look at how these dolphins are cared for, and I swear they’re living their best life! We were paired with a sweet mom and son on this adventure, so it felt very personalized being in a small group. The dolphin trainers explained what our encounter would be like and went over some rules to protect the dolphins and ourselves while we were in the water with them. Then the dolphins swam out and we had the best time! They did some tricks, posed for a few pics with us, and then it was time for the dolphin ride along as the dolphins pulled us through the water with their dorsal fins. I was a little nervous at first and wondered what would happen if I missed the fins when they swam by. But then, my 5-year-old did it beautifully and the nerves melted away. By far this was the boys best memory in Mexico!

The rest of our trip was spent at the resort! The boys especially enjoyed the pool canoes and the bartenders making them fruity drinks!

*BIG TIP* if you tip the waiters & the bartenders, even a small amount, they will take amazing care of you! We never had an empty cup or had to wait for someone to take our poolside food order. We felt really special!

If you’re interested in planning a trip to Mexico & need any ideas, please reach out! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

We used the fabulous travel agent, Alexa Spahr. She comes highly recommended and has helped us book a couple of trips to Mexico. She really works with your budget and travel dates & it has always been such a smooth and easy process with her help. You can contact Alexa via email at alexa@travelwithalexa.com and be sure to check out her website www.travelwithalexa.com.

How to do Chicago in 2 Days with Kids!

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Hey y’all! This is Jasha here. I am so excited to share our quick trip to Chicago. I am not going to lie, I was NERVOUS to head to the windy city with the kids… without Jereme. But it ended up being SOOOO much fun! So let me start from the beginning…

I am famous for planning our next road trip while on a road trip haha! So, as I was driving us through Missouri, we decided that we had to go visit our dear friends that were staying in Chicago for the summer. We really didn’t have any idea how long of a trip Chicago would be from Dallas, but it turns out that it’s only 13 hours away! I mean, we drive that far to Colorado for our ski trips and we’ve definitely gone farther before. Once we ran the idea by our hubbies, we booked our hotel on Expedia (book now/pay later of course). Which was brilliant, because we originally planned to go in early July but we ended up stranded up in Wyoming and Colorado with our Yukon issues. I am so happy that we were able to go, we had a great time on this road trip!

We left on a Sunday afternoon and stopped in Joplin, Missouri for the night. Then we woke up early and ventured to Springfield, IL. Click here to see our All Things Abe Lincoln Blog! We finally arrived to our hotel late Monday night. We stayed at the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago. It was lovely. I was nervous about driving through Chicago & unloading our things in the city, you know these are the things Moms worry about when traveling alone. Fortunately, there was a little driveway to pull into and we valeted the car for the 2 days we were there. It did cost $50 per day, but I was okay with that price, mainly because we didn’t really have a choice! We pretty much went straight to bed so that we could wake up early and get together with Roz and the girls! Their apartment in Chicago is amazing! Check out these views of the lake!!

The Wright’s Lake House

Day 1: Our hotel was only 2 blocks away from Roz’s “lake house.” We walked straight to their place and then headed to breakfast. After we ate, we started our adventures with the kiddos. We had the best tour guides, too! Emma and Hayley (my former kinder and 1st grade students) were the best at guiding us through the city! We walked from breakfast to Shedd Aquarium, which is another place I’ve added to my list of “places to work when I grow up” haha! There was so much to see and do. I don’t think we even touched the surface of all the things there, but we did see some neat exhibits and watched a dolphin show! The kids also found some great souvenirs! You can actually see the aquarium from the Wright’s apartment, so I am sure you can imagine how gorgeous the walk was back to their place. We took in the sights from the city and went back to swim in their pool and hot tub! After swimming, we went back to the hotel for a quick rest/do some work (I was still styling for Stitch Fix at the time). We met back up with Roz and the girls and had some deep dish pizza at Gino’s East. Then we called it a night. We walked a grand total of 8.1 miles this day and the kids did awesome!

Walk along the lake to Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium

The fountain from Married with Children LOL!

The most beautiful pool I’ve been to!

These kids have it so bad ha!

Had to pose with some deep dish pizza! My secret… I hate pizza LOL!

Day 2: I think this day was my favorite! We met up with Roz and the girls at The Bean. It was so sunny and bright, but we were able to snap a few pics to mark our time here. From The Bean, we actually loaded up on a bus and took public transportation to the famous Portillo’s for lunch. My anxiety was through the roof in this place. So many people, so many choices, so many workers yelling. But let me tell you, THE FOOD IS WORTH IT! I had the best chopped salad I have ever had with a side of Italian beef LOL. It was to die for! After lunch, we walked through downtown Chicago down by the river. This city is so beautiful. Then, we went to Jojo’s Milk Bar for a fun treat! Check out these milkshakes!!! They were an instant tummy ache, but oh so yummy! From here, we took the kids to Adler Planetarium. It was super cool and kept the kids entertained for hours! It was another fabulous walk back to the hotel and we had fun spending some time out by the lake on our way back . We finished the day with dinner at Roz’s and watched a firework show over the lake from their living room! Apparently, there’s a firework show over the lake every Sunday and Wednesday in the summer. Then, we hugged the girls goodbye and went to the hotel for our last night in Chi-town. As you can tell, we packed in a lot for our two full days in the city. And, we walked a grand total of 10.3 miles this day!

The Bean

Braving the bus!

Inside Portillo’s

jojo’s Milk Bar

Adler Planetarium

Fireworks over the lake!

Day 3: We had to head back this day, but we were SOOOO close to the infamous Home Alone House. I mean, when you’re only 20 miles from the filming location of the BEST Christmas movie of all time, you have to go visit. OMG, I was so nervous the closer we got. I didn’t know what we would encounter. But I was also super excited. I honestly think I may like this movie more than my kids. When the house came into view, I was pumped! This has been a dream of mine for years! We parked the car, jumped out and took the quickest pic in history haha! Looking back, I wish I would’ve knocked on the door and asked for a tour. Click here for the address.

My childhood dream come true!

Springfield, Illinois

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Have you ever stumbled across an amazing place by accident? Well, we sure did on our way to Chicago! There are so many historical sites to see in Springfield, Illinois all dedicated to our wonderful 16th President Mr. Abraham Lincoln! I honestly had no idea this city would be so neat. Check out the amazing things we got to see and do, plus a list of more that we didn’t get to.

We started out our drive to Chicago on a Sunday night and stopped about 6 hours down the road in Springfield, MO. We were so tired from the drive and decided to sleep in before continuing on to Chicago. BIG MISTAKE! Because of this, we ended up in Springfield, IL around 5:00 pm and all of the historical sites close at 5:00 or 6:00 pm. This is one thing that I wish I had known before! We still got to visit the only home that Abraham Lincoln ever owned. It’s called the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. There’s also a welcome center that has a little museum and gift shop inside that was open. We did not get to go inside of the house, so we decided that we had to stop back by on our way home from Chicago.

Apparently this area of Illinois is known as “The Land of Lincoln” and there’s a lot of different signage for specific historical interest sites dedicated to his legacy. I really wish I would’ve researched this area more before our trip because we could’ve easily spent a few days there!

If you want to visit this area, make sure you plan to stay at least two full days. And get there early since everything closes at 5:00! Some points of interest include: Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Lincolns’ tomb/grave site, Abraham Lincoln National Presidential Library and Museum, the largest covered wagon in the US (with Abe inside), his father’s log cabin, Union Station, and more! Check out this website for a complete list of sites!

We explored the street that Lincoln and Mary lived on with their boys before they loaded up and took the train to Washington DC. The street still looks like it did in the 1800s! We also checked out the artifacts in the welcome center, which is where you need to park to explore the area, and then headed on to Chicago. On our way out of town, we noticed the Presidential Library and Museum and added it to our list to explore on our way home. Then we started googling different sites as we passed the signs on the drive out. That’s when Carrie found the biggest covered wagon in the US and we knew we had to see it! It was a fun, quick stop for a picture. And did I mention, all of this is on Historic Route 66?!

Abe’s writing desk!

Not Abe’s actual hat, all of his hats are in museums. But this is probably something he really did have at home!

THE BEST Park Ranger ever!

Here are our favorite pictures from the Presidential Museum!

This is definitely a must-see area if you love US history/All Things Presidents like my boys! We will be going back one day so that Jereme can see the sites and to visit the places we didn’t get to! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below and I’ll do my best to get back to you!

Garden of the Gods

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Hey y’all! It’s Jasha here again. I thought I would blog about our day trip to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO. We’ve had quite the adventure! So, for those of you that don’t know, we left for an 8 day vacation on June 23rd and headed to South Dakota for the week. Our trip unexpectedly turned into a 12 day trip! On our way back to TX, our Yukon lost all engine power due to a problem with the computer system. We ended up stuck in Cody, WY for 3 days without a car. Finally, it was fixed… or so we thought. When we made it 8 hours down the road, on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, the computer system had another problem and we lost all engine power again. We were literally right at an exit and were able to coast over to a fabulous hotel, called My Place Hotel. The staff was amazing and got us a great rate. The rooms were awesome, with full kitchens and an option to have breakfast delivered to your room in the morning for you to cook. It also had a grocery selection which was helpful for us since our vehicle wasn’t running. Check it out if you’re ever out in CO Springs! Anyway, my dad is amazing and came to the rescue with a truck and trailer to help haul us home. He lives in the same town as us, so it took him 11 hours to drive up to Colorado. So, we decided to take the boys to do something fun for the day while we waited for him. I had been to the Garden of the Gods when I was a kid with my family and then Jereme and I went up there with his family about 15 years ago. So, it had been a really long time since I was last there. And let me just say, my boys LOVED it! I have never heard them ask to have their picture taken so many times. So, if you have little boys, or girls, that love the outdoors and enjoy climbing over cool rock formations, then this is the place to go! Oh, and it’s FREE to visit!

We Ubered over to the Garden of the Gods visitor center to start out our day trip. It has restrooms, a few exhibits, a cafe/coffee shop, a souvenir shop, movie theater (that details the formation of this land form), a 2nd story viewing balcony, and a lower level desk that offers different tours – like by jeep or trolley. I believe they also offer free shuttles that drive you across the street where the rock formations are. We chose to walk, we had been stuck in the last hotel for 3 days and then again in the car the whole day before, so it was nice exercise for all of us! We packed a backpack full of drinks and a few snacks for the hike. I think next time we might pack a picnic lunch to take with us. (I’ll get to the food part later!)

Jereme and the boys on the walk to the Garden of the Gods Park

The views are amazing, even before you walk through the park. There are different paths and trails along the way that are very easy to walk along. There are a few stairs to climb, but nothing too hard. It was really hot when we were there so we took a lot of breaks in the shade. We enjoyed watching the rock climbers during our breaks.

One muddy part, the boys problem-solved an easier way across!
There was a log down to use to cross the water! It was hard to stay balanced!

Below are just a few of our favorite pictures in the park.

My family!
Notice how nice most of the paths are!
Climbing with my boys!
Jett climbing through a tunnel
My boys had the best time!
Jett just doing his thing!
Jake was so mad that I wouldn’t let him climb as high as his brother!
Loved all of our adventures this past week!

More stunning scenery!

We explored the park for about 3 hours and then we got hot and tired. We decided to venture back to the visitor center for some food and to peruse the exhibits. We had a wonderful late lunch at the cafe. The boys had yummy cheese pizza and I had a tuna sandwich. Jereme had a turkey avocado sandwich. It was a little pricey, I think we spent about $40 on food , but overall we enjoyed what we ordered! Then we walked around the exhibits and ended our visit at the souvenir shop where little Jake spent ALL of his birthday money! Haha! Below are a few pictures from the visitor center.

Different animals found in the area

Once again, the teacher in me loved this! We definitely want to go back and visit Colorado Springs next summer. Near the Garden of the Gods is also The Cave of the Winds and Pike’s Peak. I’m sure there’s so much more in the area to explore, so stay tuned for our next visit!

How to do San Antonio in 24 Hours!

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Hey y’all! Jasha here again! I wanted to share our first trip of 2019, without kids in tow, with you all. This was another last minute trip that Carrie and I took the weekend after Galveston. We love our kids, but they sure can drive us crazy sometimes ha! So, we decided to hit the road for a quick trip down to San Antonio, TX!

In front of The Alamo at night!

We found a nice hotel (again last minute) and decided to book it right away. We stayed at Hotel Indigo San Antonio-Riverwalk I love booking through Expedia.com and choosing the book now/pay later option. I love the “pay later” option especially since you’re usually able to cancel the day before check in. Being a busy mom, you never know what might come up! We almost canceled because the weather was not looking great for the weekend down there, but since we REALLY wanted a break from the kiddos, we decided to go ahead and go. And man, I’m so glad we did!

The drive down went fairly smooth. Luckily we had just missed an ice storm a few days before, so by the time we left all the roads were clear. Check out this sign though!

Needless to say, it was pretty chilly. We arrived to the hotel and check in was great! The hotel was so nice. We laughed as soon as we entered our room because it was huge and of course it was just the two of this time. The hotel was located right on the Riverwalk. The only downside was that even though it was on the water, it was a really, really long walk to the restaurants and more popular/touristy parts of the Riverwalk. I’ll touch on that more later…

Hotel Indigo San Antonio-Riverwalk (image from Expedia.com)

After check in we decided to go exploring! Our destination was of course the Riverwalk. We left our hotel and walked right down to the river from easily accessible doors through the back of the lobby/dining area.

This selfie was right outside of our hotel on the Riverwalk

We were also starving at this point! So, we began walking and walking and walking. Neither of us minded but we were both glad the kids weren’t with us because it would’ve been too far for them. We ended up eating at Johnny Rockets. We had some fantastic greasy burgers that hit the spot! From lunch we headed over to The Alamo. There wasn’t a long line to get in and we were able to take a quick self-guided tour inside. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside of The Alamo. But we got a couple of great shots outside both during the day and at night!

After visiting The Alamo we decided to be crazy tourists and we hit up the Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit! It is directly across the street from The Alamo. We had a blast! We laughed and were silly and it was just what we needed! We got the pass to go into all of the Ripley’s exhibits, which included the haunted house and Louis Tussaud’s Wax Museum. I believe there were three or four total attractions. It was misting rain outside at this time so it was the perfect place to be indoors and dry! And yes, I screamed several times in the haunted house! Ha! Here a few shots of the things we did:

Twilight!! Yassss!

After we finished with Ripley’s, we needed dinner! We really just wanted to sit out on the Riverwalk and have Mexican food and margaritas, so that’s what we did! It just so happened to be The Chinese New Year weekend river parade so we enjoyed decorated boats and music and floating lanterns on the Riverwalk while we had dinner! I was too busy eating to get any pics, but Carrie got a few!

One of the floats for the Chinese New Year!

After dinner we headed to get souvenirs for the kids and took a few more pics along the River Walk and then we were ready to call it night.

This picture was before dinner – we ate where the umbrellas are to the right!

I could not leave San Antonio without scorpion suckers (which my two boys did eat) and Mexican jumping beams!

It was misting again at this point and our hotel was so.far.away! It was so nice, but if you stay at Hotel Indigo you probably need to taxi or Uber closer to the main attractions. I love walking along the Riverwalk, but at night and in the rain was not fun at all. Especially without our husbands with us, the crazies come out at night! Obviously we made it back just fine and had a chance to chat on the phone with our kiddos and hubbies before putting on our pj’s and just relaxing in bed. It was nice watching The Office reruns without any interruptions!!

The hotel had a nice breakfast the next morning and then we journeyed home! It was a fast and FUN 24 hours in San Antonio and just what these tired mamas needed!

Galveston Island, TX

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Hey y’all! This is Jasha here, trying to get caught up on the travel blog. This Road Trip Queen has been busy with at least one trip a month since January. Needless to say, I’m falling behind with travel updates due to ALL the travel, life, kids, hubby, work, school events, etc.

Jasha and Carrie in Galveston
February 2019

I have been wanting to blog about Galveston for awhile now, even before I started a blog. I always hear so many negative things about this place and it really saddens my heart because I LOVE it SOOOOO much! Everyone has their own opinion, I just hope my views may encourage more people to give this amazing place a chance! You just have to keep in mind that no, the water is not clear/blue and the sand is not soft and white. But overall, a beach is a beach and if you want a quick, fun getaway packed full of memories, this is the place to go! My kids have been to beaches in TX, California, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Cabo San Lucas, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and will tell anyone that asks that Galveston is their favorite! I think that part of it is because they are so familiar with the area and feel so comfortable when we’re here. We also go so often that we don’t really make plans. It’s usually pretty chill and we sleep in and sometimes just hang out in the condo. It’s more relaxing because we’ve done most of the touristy things already and we just rest and relax and reconnect as a family when we’re there instead of being on the go constantly. I hope you enjoy reading about our first ever winter visit to Galveston with our favorite travel buddies!

Our second trip of the year was to Galveston, TX in February 2019. I grew up going here and my family goes a couple of times a year, but this was Carrie and her kids first trip to the island! We were so, so, so excited to take them to our favorite places! My family has actually never gone in February, so it was kind of a first for us, too. And as always, we really had a great time!

This trip was a quick one and was literally planned on our way home from a birthday party. My oldest son Jett LOVES Galveston! Right now he even wants to go to the college down here when he graduates HS! He’s grown up traveling and has visited several different beaches (in the US and Caribbean) since he’s been born. Hands down, Galveston has always been his favorite! It also holds a very special place in my heart, too! My parents do not fly anywhere, so I grew up traveling to Galveston every year. I continued the tradition with my husband and later our boys. Jett also loves eating crab legs and we always make sure to eat fresh seafood when we’re in Galveston. So, on our way home from a friend’s birthday party we noticed that Joe’s Crab Shack in Plano had closed down. So of course we joked about needing to go down to Galveston for crab legs. This was on a Sunday, I asked Carrie if they could go on a quick getaway on Tuesday, and by Friday we were heading down south to the coast!

We have stayed in the same place every trip for the past 8 years and love it! We rent a condo (unit 2301) at Seascape Condominiums which just so happens to be owned by my Dad’s buddy! This place is on the beach side of the Sea Wall and has it’s own beach area. If you’ve ever been to Galveston you know that most hotels are across the Sea Wall and you have to cross a busy 4-lane road to get to the beach. My family did it for years, but this place is the best because you don’t have to cross the street and lug your beach stuff around! It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a kitchen, living room, washer/dryer, and bunk beds built in the hallway. Overall, it can sleep 8 people comfortably. (I will find more pictures of the condo and post later).

View from the balcony of the condo at Seascape Condos
Levi, Jake, Sadie, and Jett being silly on the bunk beds!

So, we left right after school on Friday, February 1st. It only took us 4.5 hours to get from McKinney to Galveston! We packed in a lot of fun in the 2 full days we had there. We packed most of our food and took it with us so we didn’t have to stop when we got there. But there is a Walmart nearby and we usually get groceries there when we visit in the summer and stay longer. We arrived at the condo by 8:30 and went to the pool for a night swim. Luckily the pool is heated in the winter! Like I mentioned earlier, we have never visited Galveston in the winter and didn’t really know what to expect. The temperatures were in the 60’s the whole time and it was really cloudy/overcast. My kids loved it because I didn’t have to coat them in sunscreen this trip! One of my favorite things about the condo is that there’s a washer/dryer in the master closet. It’s really nice to be able to throw our towels and swimsuits in the dryer after each swim!

The next morning we woke up early and I made us bacon and eggs before heading down to the beach/pool for the day. It was chilly, but the kids played for hours, both in the sand and out in the ocean! It was way too cold for me to get in the water, but the kids had no trouble at all swimming and splashing. We warmed up in the heated pool to finish our day at the beach.

Sadie, Levi, Jake, and Jett at the beach on a cloudy winter day in Galveston
Levi, Sadie, Jett, & Jake playing in the ocean

After spending the day at the beach/pool, we decided to to take our friends to our favorite souvenir shop in the ENTIRE WORLD! Murdoch’s has always been and will always be my happy place! Being a teacher and loving all things science, it seriously wasn’t uncommon for me to plan a quick trip with Jereme (before we had kids) to Galveston just to hit up the souvenir shop for seashells and other beach themed items before teaching an ocean unit in my classroom. I loved this shop when I was a kid and my little sister and I have a series of pictures sitting out on the front steps each summer we were there. I was a sobbing mess when I watched live footage of Hurricane Ike destroy Murdoch’s in May 2008. Luckily for all of us, Murdoch’s was rebuilt even bigger and better than before! They have an excellent selection of items from beach toys to snacks/drinks, picture frames, home decor, t-shirts, hats, shoes, Christmas ornaments, and hermit crabs (and yes, we’ve left there a time or two with new pets in tow hahaha).

Just a small shot of the amazing items at Murdoch’s!
It’s a tradition to take a photo somewhere on the steps outside of Murdoch’s!

Then we finished the night with dinner at the the Rainforest Cafe. We had a great seat, the kids got balloon animals and were entertained by a magician before the food arrived. Overall it was a fantastic dining experience!

Me and the boys at dinner at the Rainforest Cafe

Saturday was so fun because we got to have one of our girls nights and do girly stuff while the boys played video games! This is one of my favorite memories with the Morgan girls!

Girls night!

Sunday morning we had to get up and check out of the condo, ugh vacations are never long enough! But we’re lucky that we don’t live too far away! We still spent the whole day showing the Morgans some of our other favorite places! We started with lunch at a new favorite of ours, Fisherman’s Wharf. This restaurant is near The Strand and the cruise terminals. It sits right on the water and we were able to see a huge Carnival cruise ship loading up passengers before setting sail. We have really enjoyed the food here and sometimes eat there multiple times during our summer vacations in Galveston! If you take your parking ticket inside, they will validate it and then parking is free. After eating, we usually spend the day or night walking around The Strand. There’s shopping, places to eat and drink, and photographic opportunities (like the Greetings From Galveston postcard pictured above). My kiddos love going to La Kings Confectionery and watching saltwater taffy being made, eating ice cream, and buying candy there! The Strand reminds me of New Orleans, just a little tamer!

Jett and Jake out front of Fisherman’s Wharf in Galveston
View from inside the restaurant!
We toured that boat after lunch, too!
Example of the “photographic opportunities” around The Strand!

After spending some time at The Strand, we headed to Moody Gardens to explore the aquarium! We didn’t have time for all of the activities there, but were able to squeeze in a fun visit for a few short hours before the drive home. We especially love the stingray & jellyfish encounters because you get to touch real stingrays and jellyfish in their tanks!

Sadie and a Stingray!
This little guy loved us!

After spending some time at the aquarium, we had no choice but to head home. I think we left Galveston around 4:00 pm and made it home around bedtime. It was a nice, quick getaway. Vitamin Sea is always good for the soul!

Stay tuned for more Galveston posts!

Crested Butte, CO

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Hey y’all, Jasha here! Man, I had a hard time deciding what trip I should start with… So, I’m going to share our first trip of 2019 and will try to do “flashback” stories of some of our other trips during our down time between travels.

My goal with this blog is to share our amazing adventures and provide tips along the way. With that being said, I am sharing it all – the good, the great, the bad, the ugly and everything in between! And well, for my family, this trip started out REALLY ugly…

For the past ten years or so, my family has taken a snowboarding trip every holiday season. Crested Butte, Colorado has become one of our favorites over the years. It’s known as “the last great Colorado ski town,” and for good reason. We decided we would ring in the New Year in CB, so we booked our condo for December 31-January 6th. On December 29th my boys and I ended up getting a horrible stomach virus, the second one for us in December!! I was supposed to be packing our family up and getting snacks and groceries for the drive, but instead we were all sleeping on the bathroom floor. It was awful. This is real life people! Sometimes we get sick when we have plans. We prayed, my husband (who was at work the day the boys and I were sick) did all of our grocery shopping, and we went to bed hopeful we could leave the next morning. Of course, Jereme (that’s my husband) ends up catching the virus and is so sick that next morning. We were supposed to leave by 8:00 am, but that wasn’t happening.

Luckily, it was a short-lived virus, so the boys and I really felt fine on our departure day. I packed us up, Jereme slept until around noon, and he pulled it together so we could leave. We had plans to stop in Trinidad, CO for the night, just to break up the drive. We live in North Texas, so it’s about a 13 hour drive to Crested Butte for us. Right before we left, we learned that a major winter storm was coming in with lots of snow expected and travel delays. I couldn’t believe it. We had been going to the mountain every year and never had this bad of luck before. I ended up driving us the entire 9 hour drive to Trinidad while Jereme slept in the back. We made it to our hotel for the night and luckily for us all, the virus had ran it’s course!

So, we got up early the next day, it was New Year’s Eve. And that’s when the winter storm hit! The 4.5 hour drive to our condo ended up taking about 6 hours, but we made it. My nerves were shot ha! We had never seen snow like this so far from the mountain. I think our top speed for several hours was about 25 mph.

We got to Crested Butte in time for the torch light parade and firework show to ring in 2019! Most ski resorts and mountain towns have special events like this during the holiday season. They begin between 5-5:30, it’s already super dark at that time!

We ended up having a really great trip, even though it didn’t start out that way. We spent time with our friends, we did some things on our own as a family, we rested, we relaxed, we snowboarded until everything hurt, we played in the snow, and ultimately made tons of memories!

Here are some tips from personal experience:

  1. If you plan to go skiing/snowboarding over Winter Break, try going on/after New Year’s Eve. It seems pretty crowded between Christmas and NYE, but everyone starts going home after New Year’s Day.
  2. Book your hotel or condo early. We usually book in August. We prefer to stay in a condo so that we can cook and have more room with our two crazy boys and all of the gear we have.
  3. Get waterproof everything, but especially gloves! I cannot stress this enough! Your day WILL be ruined if you have kids and their hands get wet and cold.
  4. Amazon has great deals on ski gear and apparel. You really don’t have to spend too much to be warm or cute!
  5. Prepare your kids early about building snowmen. I thought we would be able to make the best ones ever in Colorado, however, the snow is soft and dry and doesn’t really roll into balls. Ours looks more like a snow blob (picture below), but we still had fun creating it.
  6. Take at least a day off from skiing/boarding to explore the town. CB is so colorful, the locals are so nice, and the food is great!
  7. Germs are gross. Quarantine your family a few days before any trip ha!
  8. Be aware of winter weather and make sure you have food, water & blankets in your car in case of an emergency.
  9. Put your kids in ski school and enjoy a day with your husband or friends. The kids will have a blast and actually learn how to ski. You can have a nice lunch, adult drinks, or even some time at the spa!
  10. Finally, take lots of pictures and make some lasting memories!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this trip! Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

Our first time meeting up with friends to go sledding!
Our “snowman.” We save bottle caps for eyes, buttons, and the mouth. We bought a carrot at the local grocery store for the nose!
My favorite ski town!

Can’t beat these views!
The guys had a great time while the little ones were at ski school and Carrie & I were at the spa!

How It All Began…

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Hey y’all, I’m Jasha (pronounced like Jay-shu) and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with traveling! Often you can find me either planning my next adventure or on my next adventure. Everyone started calling me the Road Trip Queen and suggested that I write a travel blog, so the name kind of stuck and here I am, sharing all of my travels with you.

I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have two boys, Jett and Jake. I am also an elementary school teacher and a huge US History fanatic. I enjoy traveling with friends and my little family and really want to share it all with you – the good, bad, and ugly! Because, let’s be real here… I am traveling with kids ha!

My family!

Most of our travel adventures will be around the United States – we have a BIG goal to get our boys to all 50 states before they leave home. So far, I’m at 41 and the boys are at 39! I try not to include states that we just drive through, I want at least a hotel stay and some kind of experience to mark that state off of our list. Sometimes we take the boys out of the country, Mexico is one of our favorites! I am always happy to connect with my readers and answer any questions that you may have. I’ve also been known to help with travel planning, so please feel free to contact me!

I hope you all love taking this crazy, exciting, chaotic, unpredictable journey with me!